grief ( HIATUS )
by flustered dreams
Summary: (-an ember in the ashes, my version-) lace is a slave. ilyaas is a soldier. the two don't know their destinies are intertwined.
1. Lace (I)

He did not know I was awake. Nor, did he know I had seen his sketchbook.

He did not know I eve knew, period, that he had a sketchbook.

It was frighteneing, what he had drawn in there.

Weapons of many kinds.

They weren't even weapons that existed.

What scared me the most was thta I knew Darin, my brother, the one with the sketchbook, was very skille with his hands. He could create almost anything. he could make the impossible, possible.

I sat awake in my bed, the top of a bunk bed.

My face was covered by the covers, for the window was open and it was cold with the icy draft blowing in.

He had left it open, when he'd snuck out. He snuck out every night, repeatedly.

I didn't know why. all I knew was that Darin was out past Scholar curfew.

The government we live under is the Empire, a cruel thing, really.

They do horrible things. Give horrible punishments for the most stupid reasons.

At on somepoint, some people stood up to the emeperor and told him his ways were wrong. He got very angry, but kept his cool and he asked the crowd gathering if anyone else agreed.

Many raised their hands.

The Emperor of that year and time gathered all the people who were with him and those who were against, then divided them into two groups.

Scholars: Those who were against the Empire.

And, Martials: Those who would live under the Empire and it's ways.

My family ancestors from that time were Scholars, and we still are today.

The Empire put much more rules over us.

They made us move away from the Martial City and to a whole new land they named Scholar Village.

They took away our books, our food supplies, our tools and weapons.

They made us make everything from scratch and build up our civilization, still under rule by them.

They set guards all over the village, keeping watch over us.

We made our own farmlands and tried to rise from the ashes and prove that we were strong on our own.

And we were.

Anyways, breaking Scholar curfew would be justified for execution. That's why Darin's disappearances every night worried me, so.

I gasped when I heard something shuffle on the floor and the window close with a creak.

Darin was back.

A candle was lit and I tried to breath as quite as possible, but my heart was thumping so much that I had to draw in shaky and large breaths.

"I know you are awake, little sister. No point in hiding."

My heart deflated. I'd been caught.

Miserably, I slid out from under the covers and sat up, looking at Darin.

He was very tall, so despite being on a bunk bed, I did not have to look down, too far. His head was full of blonde hair and his eyes were a precise blue, so clear and vivid. He had a square jaw and pale skin. His features were soft in the candlelight.

A striking image of Mama.

I missed her. And Papa.

I wished I had Ma's looks. But, Pa's weren't all that bad, either.

My hair was a dark raven color, hints of deep brown in it. My eyes blazed the same fiery gold as Pa, as well my spirit. My lips were full and my eyelashes naturally dark, my face angular and heart-shaped, but indented with dimples.

"What are you doing out there, every night?"

Darin smirked. "Who said anything about me straying around here?"

"Pardon?'

"I don't stay in the village, you know."

"Really?" I asked, louder than intended to.

"Shh!" Darin beckoned. "Nanny and Pop will hear."

I nodded, slowly. I noticed the sketchbook in his hands. "What is in there?" I asked, even though I already knew.

Darin's face grew serious. "Nothing."

"What is it?" I repeated, more firm.

"Nothing."

I crossed my arms. "Why do you go out every night? And why not stay in the village? How do you get past all the guards?"

"Go to bed, Lace."

My eyes grew narrow. "You know I despise that name."

"Just because Mama and Papa gave it to you, and they are now gone does not mean you have to 'despise' it. It is good to hold on, you know."

"Not for me. It only burdens me that they gave something to me, something that would stick with me for the rest of my life, and they chose to leave so early. I never even knew them well enough, but you and Liesel did."

Liesel. My older sister.

She had been so beautiful.

Blonde hair, so long. Always worn in a braid done by mama.

She'd laugh and tell stories, play with me outside.

Same gold eyes as me and Papa.

Free spirit. Wild imagination.

She was so young when she was killed by the Empire alongside Mama and Papa...

Too young.

"What do you plan to do with those drawings of the weapons?"

Darin paused changing his muddy shirt. "What?"

"You heard me. I've seen in your sketchbook. They look like Martial weapons. Why?"

Darin ignored my question. "You snooped!"

"Did not!" I defended like a five-year-old and not like the seventeen-year-old I was. "It was open to a page on the floor. I picked it up and saw the one page, then close it and out it back under the bed where I always see you hiding it."

"Stay out of my business, Lace."

 _"Stop calling me that!"_

Darin sighed. "Fine, _Laia._ There. That better?"

"Yes, thank you. Now, answer me."

"No, you answer me something. Did Nanny or Pop see?"

"The sketchbook?"

"Yes," he clarified.

I shrugged. "I donno. You'd need to answer me, first."

"No, I already said you would answer me. Did they see?"

I held my ground. "I'm not sure."

Darin was done. "Ten hells, Laia, did they see it or not?! The survival of our family depends on this!"

I sighed, knowing he would not answer me. "No," I whispered. "They did not see."

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

Darin calmed. "I cannot tell you where I go or have been. It would put you at risk. I can't do that to my little sister."

"I'm not little," I mumbled.

He smiled. "You are to me and everyone else in this house, thus, making you 'little' sister."

I jumped and clutched my chest as a glint of silver outside caught my eye. I looked up and noticed some dark figure lurking outside in a silver mask.

 _Lord, help me. No._


	2. Ilyaas (II)

I awoke to pounding on my door. The morning sun was just rising over the horizon.

"Ilyaas! Ilyaas!"

I'd recognize that voice anywhere.

 _Heleen._

My best friend.

"C-come in...?" I staggered, groggily.

"Well, I need you to open the door!"

"R-right! Hold on!"

I scrambled out of bed and pulled on my school, Blackcliff's, uniform.

The uniform consisted of steel-toed boots, fitted black pants, a black long-sleeved shirt, and a grey vest with silver buckles and chains across the front. Under the collar of the vest was a hood that cast the wearers' face in shadow. I also had a silver mask.

Most Mask's- soldiers of the Empire-wear silver masks all the time.

Reason?

Once they put it on, they are supposed to leave it on, and then it melds to their face like a second skin.

But, I _hate_ the darn thing.

It's pretty much a symbol for what the Empire is training me to become.

A killer of Scholar. Torturer of innocent people.

I can't do it.

Secretly, I'm against the Empire's ways. Tomorrow is graduation, and I plan to desert. A.k.a, run away.

I can escape this fate I have almost sealed. I could run away to the free lands, of the Tribes.

 _Yes. What a dream that would be._

I opened the door to find Heleen standing with a hand on her hip.

She was all dressed in her uniform, too, but I could still imagine the _real_ Heleen.

I knew she had dark, chestnut brown eyes. Her black pupils barely visible, her eyes keen and small. She had dirty-blonde hair, like wet sand, that she had cut short to her shoulders. A little white scar lay above her eyebrow. Her lips were fairly thin and her skin was pale. She was fairly thin, but had been trying to put on some 'regular' weight, since her mother was always nagging her over letter about eating more, so she didn't look unnaturally small. She was tall, though.

Almost as tall as me.

"Let's get moving," she said.

"For what?"

"Did you not hear the drums? We have to report to the main lawn."

The drums were a set of, well, drums at our school that rang out different patterns, which equaled different orders or announcements.

 _Report to the mess hall._

 _The weaponry building is closed for the remainder_ of _the day_.

 _Go to archery training._

Things such as those.

"Well, I slept through them."

She rolled her eyes. "oh, well. Let's get going before we are late. The Commandant will tan our hides, if we are."

Yes, she would. I knew that all too well.

Not by experience, but because I have seen it firsthand.


End file.
